There is one final conversation to have with your clients before they are ready to move forward with their change plan. The last discussion to have involves considering what obstacles may come up along the way. Thinking ahead and preparing for how to address certain situations can be an extremely important conversation to have. Of course, you may not be able to come up with every possible obstacle but to name a few can be a good way to be as prepared as possible.
For example, a diabetic may be aware of the need to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they consume. If they are a very social person and attend a lot of events out in the world, they may want to think ahead about how to navigate these situations. Asking the client for their thoughts and strategies to deal with situations would be a good place to start.
Below are the tasks provided by Miller and Rollnick of the territory to cover with a client who has several ways to move forward. The last task we will explore is troubleshooting and raising any concerns you may have about the plan to be implemented.
- Confirm the goal, and as appropriate, subgoals along the way.
- Itemize the options that are available or have been discussed.
- Elicit the client’s hunches/preferences as to the best way forward.
- Summarize the plan and strengthen commitment.
- Troubleshoot-raise any concerns you have.
In trying to troubleshoot any challenges that may arise, it is important for the clinician to ask the client for their thoughts first. If the client has taken time to think about possible ways to address potential problematic situations, and the client is asking for your thoughts, it would be fine to begin brainstorming together ways to navigate them.
The key is to make sure the client is taking ownership of their change plan and coming up with their own ideas for the plan to be as successful and sustainable as possible. Of course, the client will be coming to you to provide updates on how things are going so there will be time to discuss the plan and to see if any changes need to be made.
This step in the process tries to plan ahead so if there are obstacles along the way, some thought has already gone into how these situations may be addressed. In next month’s blog, we will begin looking at how best to strengthen commitment. I hope everyone is doing as well as possible and you have opportunities to use and practice motivational interviewing.
For more information about Motivational Interviewing or related services, contact Steve Bradley-Bull, LCMHC, by phone, (919) 812-9203, or by email, steve_bradley-bull@med.unc.edu
MI website: https://motivationalinterviewing.org/
MI Blogs: https://uncmotivationalinterviewing.wordpress.com/
UNC CFAR Motivational Interviewing 